


Birthday Chills

by PhantomEngineer



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Birthday, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 06:53:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17361104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomEngineer/pseuds/PhantomEngineer
Summary: Every year it's the same conversation, longing for a warm birthday, and every year Severus and Lily are cold together.





	Birthday Chills

**Author's Note:**

> Might write a second chapter for Lily's birthday, might not. For now at least it's complete, but it would be more complete with both.

It was cold, because January was winter and winter was cold. Every year it was the same conversation that would start as the nights started to lengthen and the sunlight seemed to flee away in fear. Why did they still live in such a cold country, why didn’t they at the very least head south for the winter, like the birds did. Migration seemed like such a sensible idea, and yet the only time they had ever managed to do anything over the winter it had been even further north where the sun didn’t even rise. It made them appreciate the occasional snatches of sunlight they had otherwise grown accustomed to.

They would dream, of birthdays spent in the beautiful warmth of Hawai’ian beaches, sipping tropical cocktails as they bathed in sunlight in between bathing in the glistening sea. It was almost a tradition, started when they had been children with barely any comprehension of the world beyond Cokeworth, beside a vague inkling that there had to be something better. Ever since then they had dreamed of going further afield, of seeing wondrous, glorious sights. Of being warm on their birthdays, both unfortunately timed to the grim misery of January.

“It’s prettier than Cokeworth,” Lily said, which was true. Most things were. Cokeworth had been a particularly ugly town, overlooked by an imposing factory and covered in a general sense of grime. Spinner’s End had been the worst of it, and the houses there had been cold.

“True, though I suspect colder,” Severus answered, his breath forming white clouds of steam in the air.

“Next year,” Lily said, as she did every year, “Next year we’ll go somewhere warm and have birthday cocktails on the beach.”

They huddled together for warmth, his arm around her shoulders, her scarf around both their necks. 

“We could still make it in time for your birthday,” he said reasonably, unwilling to move. The scarf held him in place, though more than that it was her in her entirety. She didn’t need to wrap a scarf around his neck to keep him still or to bind him to her. That he had done himself, almost naturally and without a second thought, no real conscious decision marking the moment when that reality had been finalised. It had started when they first met, a little boy in ill-fitting clothing and a little girl eager to explore.

“That wouldn’t be fair,” Lily objected, resting her head on his shoulder, “It’s got to be both our birthdays.” 

Her red hair was damp with snowflakes, a striped woolly hat keeping her head and ears warm. Severus too wore a woolly hat, though his was plain black. They were dressed for the cold, as they hadn’t always been. 

“Maybe we should just move somewhere nice and tropical,” Severus mused, liking to dream. It would require thought and planning. It was unlikely to happen, even less likely than the holiday that had never materialised. In many ways, it didn’t matter. Birthdays spent together were precious, no matter the weather. Even if it was cold, their hearts were warm. And anywhere was better than Cokeworth.


End file.
